SAF Certified Forester Silvicultural Systems: practice questions
SAF Certified Forester (CF) · USA · Society of American Foresters
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
10worked here, free
17written to this exam in this subject
11syllabus units
About SAF Certified Forester
SAF Certified Forester (CF) is a professional certification run by Society of American Foresters, for candidates in USA. Eligibility by education and experience (details in the SAF Certification Handbook), then the CF exam written to a published domain and knowledge-area outline. Recertification every three years with 45 continuing forestry education hours (at least 30 in Category 1-CF).
Checked against the exam body's published information. Formats and fees change; confirm the current edition there before you book.
Silvicultural Systems in SAF Certified Forester
Even-aged, two-aged and uneven-aged regeneration methods: clearcut, seed-tree, shelterwood (with and without reserves), single-tree and group selection, BDq regulation, variable retention, and choosing a method for a stated species and objective.
The planned sequences of regeneration felling and tending that produce a forest of a particular form: clear felling, shelterwood, selection, coppice and their variants and conversions.
Our 17 SAF Certified Forester questions in this subject: 5 easy, 9 medium, 3 hard, across 11 units.
10 practice questions, worked
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
These 10 were written to SAF Certified Forester and are not shown on any other exam's page.
Question 1 · medium
Which statement correctly contrasts the uniform and group shelterwood systems?
The uniform system regenerates only by planting; the group system regenerates only by coppice shoots from stools
The uniform system gives an uneven-aged crop; the group system gives a perfectly even-aged crop across the area
The uniform system opens the canopy evenly; the group system starts in groups and enlarges the gaps until they merge
The uniform system removes single trees on a felling cycle; the group system clear-fells the whole area at once
Answer and working
C. The uniform system opens the canopy evenly; the group system starts in groups and enlarges the gaps until they merge
Uniform shelterwood opens evenly over the regeneration area; group shelterwood starts round groups of advance growth and enlarges them. Both normally use natural seedling regeneration, the uniform system gives the more even-aged crop, and neither is selection or clear felling.
Question 2 · medium
Strip shelterwood systems were developed mainly to regenerate which kind of species safely?
Fire-adapted pines whose cones open only after the heat of a stand-replacing crown fire
Mangrove species whose propagules need daily tidal flooding to establish on mud flats
Wind-sensitive species, such as Norway spruce, on sites where large openings led to windthrow
Light-demanding plantation species grown on very short rotations for pulpwood and fuel
Answer and working
C. Wind-sensitive species, such as Norway spruce, on sites where large openings led to windthrow
Narrow strips advancing against the wind protect wind-sensitive species, classically spruce in central Europe. Serotinous pines regenerate after fire or clear felling; mangroves and short-rotation light demanders are handled by other systems.
Question 3 · hard
In the BDq method of uneven-aged regulation, the three letters stand for:
Bole volume, dominant height and the quality class of the site for the main species
Basal area increment, diameter growth and the quantity of timber removed per hectare
Residual basal area, maximum diameter and the ratio between numbers in successive diameter classes
Bark thickness, density of wood and the quotient of crown length to total tree height in each class
Answer and working
C. Residual basal area, maximum diameter and the ratio between numbers in successive diameter classes
BDq: B is the target residual basal area, D the maximum diameter retained, and q the ratio between tree numbers in successive diameter classes. The other expansions are invented.
Question 4 · medium
How does group selection differ from group shelterwood?
In group selection each group is a separate unit and groups of every age persist; in group shelterwood gaps are enlarged until the whole area is regenerated
In group selection groups are planted with exotic species; in group shelterwood only native species may regenerate naturally in the gaps
In group selection the whole compartment is clear-felled at the end of the rotation; in group shelterwood no tree is ever felled after the initial seeding felling of the stand
In group selection the gaps are cut only by fire; in group shelterwood the gaps are cut only by windthrow during storms
Answer and working
A. In group selection each group is a separate unit and groups of every age persist; in group shelterwood gaps are enlarged until the whole area is regenerated
Group shelterwood regenerates the whole area within a regeneration period, giving an even-aged crop at compartment scale; group selection never regenerates the whole area at once. The other contrasts are false.
Question 5 · easy
Which pair of species is commonly managed for coppice from root suckers as well as stool shoots?
Pines and firs
Spruces and larches
Deodar and blue pine
Poplars and aspens
Answer and working
D. Poplars and aspens
Poplars and aspens sucker strongly from roots after cutting. The conifers listed do not coppice or sucker.
Question 6 · hard
What is a risk of retaining too many reserves in clear felling or shelterwood with reserves?
The reserves prevent any seed from reaching the soil, so regeneration fails entirely
The reserves suppress the young crop beneath them, reducing its growth
The reserves reduce the stand to a single age class, removing structural diversity
The reserves turn the stand into coppice because their roots send up suckers
Answer and working
B. The reserves suppress the young crop beneath them, reducing its growth
Too many reserves shade and compete with the new crop. They do not stop all seed, they add a second age class rather than removing one, and they do not convert the stand to coppice.
Question 7 · easy
Retention forestry keeps which elements at harvest for at least the next rotation?
Only stumps, so that the coupe can regenerate entirely from coppice
Live trees, snags, fallen logs and patches of undisturbed forest
Only seedlings in the nursery, which are planted after site preparation
Only the branches and tops, which are burned to release nutrients
Answer and working
B. Live trees, snags, fallen logs and patches of undisturbed forest
Retention leaves structural elements of the old forest: live trees, standing dead trees, logs and patches. Stumps, nursery stock and slash are not the retained elements.
Question 8 · medium
What is the difference between aggregated and dispersed retention?
Aggregated retention keeps patches of intact forest; dispersed retention keeps single trees spread over the area
Aggregated retention keeps only dead trees; dispersed retention keeps only living trees on the coupe
Aggregated retention is used only in the tropics; dispersed retention is used only in boreal forests of Canada and Fennoscandia
Aggregated retention is a coppice method; dispersed retention is a method for raising nursery stock
Answer and working
A. Aggregated retention keeps patches of intact forest; dispersed retention keeps single trees spread over the area
Aggregated retention leaves groups or patches; dispersed retention leaves individual trees. Both may include living and dead trees and both are used worldwide.
Question 9 · easy
In target-diameter harvesting, when is a tree felled?
When it reaches a diameter chosen for its species and site
When the whole stand reaches a fixed rotation age
When the next periodic block is due for regeneration
When its crown first touches a neighbouring crown
Answer and working
A. When it reaches a diameter chosen for its species and site
Target-diameter harvesting fells individuals as they reach a set size, not at a stand rotation age or periodic-block schedule. Crown contact is a cue for thinning, not final harvest.
Question 10 · easy
Retention is most often combined with which system?
Clear felling
Simple coppice
Pollarding
Coppice selection
Answer and working
A. Clear felling
Variable retention most often modifies clear felling, keeping structures that would otherwise be removed. It is not mainly a coppice practice.
A study plan for Silvicultural Systems in SAF Certified Forester
This plan follows where our questions actually fall, so the time goes where the marks are likely to be. It is our reading of the syllabus, not the exam body's weighting.
First, the heavy units (59% of the 17 questions): Retention forestry and continuous-cover forestry (4, 24%); Selection system and group selection (3, 18%); Clear-felling system and its variants (2, 12%); Accessory systems: two-storied high forest, conversion (1, 6%).
Read the manual chapters for these first and do every worked question you can find on them.
Then the middle band: Choice of system by species, site and objectives (1, 6%); Classification of silvicultural systems (1, 6%); Conversion between systems (1, 6%); Irregular shelterwood and strip systems (1, 6%).
Aim for one sitting per unit, then mixed questions across them.
Then the lighter units: Silviculture of temperate, subtropical, humid tropical and dry tropical forests (1, 6%); Simple coppice, coppice with standards, pollarding (1, 6%); Uniform and group shelterwood systems (1, 6%).
Learn the definitions, classifications and standard numbers; these units are more often recalled than worked.
Leave time for the hard ones: Accessory systems: two-storied high forest, conversion (1 hard of 1), Selection system and group selection (2 hard of 3).
Come back to these after a first pass, untimed, and read every explanation, including for the options you rejected.
Bank the easy marks: Conversion between systems (1 easy of 1); Simple coppice, coppice with standards, pollarding (1 easy of 1).
Do these early in revision so they are fast on the day.
Finish timed. Sit the subject as a timed set without notes, mark it, and send each wrong answer back to its unit above.